Asymmetric Warfare in Gaza
07/12/14
Paul R. Pillar
Israel Palestinian Territories, Middle East
The score, as of late Friday,
in the contest being waged in the Gaza Strip and Israel was 114-0, with
the side in the lead continuing to run up the score. This is not some
nightmare of a Brazilian soccer fan, but instead the deaths of men,
women, and children, more than three-quarters of them civilians, according to the United Nations humanitarian affairs office. All of them are Palestinians in the Gaza Strip; so far in this match no Palestinian rockets have killed any Israelis.
The term asymmetric warfare
is commonly used, of course, but to refer to different techniques for
inflicting violence for political purposes. What is going on now in Gaza
is highly asymmetric in terms of the amount of death, injury,
destruction, and overall misery being inflicted by one side on the
other. Perhaps the usual use of the term asymmetric warfare has
contributed to warping our ability to evaluate what has been going on
in this conflict. There is a tendency to think of death inflicted
overtly by an F-16, at least if it is operated by someone labeled an
ally, as somehow more legitimate than whatever a clandestinely deployed
rocket can inflict.
We
have curious habits in how we regard symmetry and asymmetry in armed
conflicts and especially the unending series of conflagrations between
Israel and Palestinians. In contrast to the assumed asymmetry about the
legitimacy of different ways of inflicting violence, in other respects
we speak as if there is perfect symmetry. It has become de rigueur
to criticize excesses on both sides, which of course there have been,
and to appeal for reasonableness on both sides, which of course there
should be.
Read full articlehttp://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/asymmetric-warfare-gaza-10869
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